College Human Health Research Ethics Committee (CHHREC) Standard Operating Procedure 2020

Acknowledgement
We are pleased to present the 2020 revised version of the Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) for theaccredited1 College of Medicine Nursing and Health Sciences (CMNHS), College Human Health Research EthicsCommittee (CHHREC). CHHREC was awarded an accreditation certificate by the Fiji Government’s National HumanResearch Ethics Review Committee (FNHRERC) for successfully meeting the international requirements of aHuman Health Research Ethics Committee. The award took place during a Fiji National Consultation Meeting onGovernance of National Human Research Ethics in Fiji, held at the Tanoa International Hotel, Nadi, on 26thMarch, 20192.The CHHREC committee members identified important issues that needed to be addressed in the original SOP of2018. The issues were raised as agenda items and the members deliberated over the issues in CHHREC meetings.After the Chair and members reached an agreement then the issues were recommended for inclusion in the SOP.The revisions of the original SOP of 2018 was conducted as the years progressed through 2018-2020. This revisionwas completed in December, 2020.The revision of the SOP 2020 was conducted by members of the CHHREC committee and Secretariat 2020.Internationally accepted documents like the World Health Organization, Western Pacific Region, Ethics ReviewCommittee (WHO WPRO-ERC) and the University of Queensland Human Research Review Committee SOP wereused to guide the development of this document. Therefore, an adoption process was conducted of existingoperating procedures to develop the CHHREC SOP while ensuring relevance to the CMNHS and the Pacific IslandsRegion.We wish to thank all the CHHREC members who have contributed to the compilation and revision of this SOP2020.1 See Section 3 - College Health Research and Ethics Committee for a description of the CHHREC accreditation award.2 The Accreditation Certificate and an FNU Media Report are attached as Appendix 1: Accreditation of the College Human Health ResearchEthics Committee